About those 'always connected PCs...'

[Al Sacco]

So Microsoft, HP and ASUS recently announced the first "always connected PCs," the ASUS NovaGo and HP Envy x2.

We've been anxiously awaiting the dawn of the Windows 10 on ARM age, and it's finally almost here. That's exciting ... but I can't help but wonder how many people will actually buy one of these first devices.

They're expensive, and I'm not all that sure the value proposition is there for me. I think many other folks are in the same boat.

What do you think? Are you excited about the first two always-connected PCs? Why or why not? Taking it a step further, are you going to buy one?

 

[spicypadthai]

More excited about the future possibilities than these first couple options. I'm not surprised at the relatively high price b/c that's always the case with first gen of new technology and as Dan says in the article, neither skimped on Windows features. But I also don't think the price is outrageous, especially since people who will buy them really need it or they simply want it. Either way, they're willing to pay for it.

 

[Al Sacco]

Yeah, I mostly agree. I still don't see many people buying these first iterations though. Except for folks like Dan ... who get all the shiny new toys.

 

[Greywolf1967]

I'm in Canada and I can say I am more excited about the Asus NovaGo over an iPhone X, seeing as entry with no contract for the iPhone X is $1300.

Heck the Nova Go will retail for less then the much loved Nokia Lumia 1020 via Rogers Mobile ( Outright was just under $900 ).

So yes you may find an Intel Atom based Laptop/2in1 with 4 Gig Ram around $299 and up, a Snapdragon Chip will still swamp most Intel Atom's and give way better Battery life!!!!

*EDIT* From everything I can find in Geek Bench scores Snapdragon 835 windows devices are beating Atoms and I think are in the M3 range. So the telling point will be Battery life. So Studants/Mobile Pro's who need more Office related works and maybe YouTube/Netflix + Store games will be the main consumer. Intel looks as if they do not have anything to fire back with in the mobile space...going to be interesting !!

These first Gen devices seem targeted at "Road Warriors" for the extended battery.

I would love to dump both my Intel Atom based Tablets for the NovaGo !!!! I do worry at what price the HP will Launch at based off of the Launch of the X3 and it's Lapdock.

 

[ryanlrobinson]

I don't care about the always-connected LTE part of it. That's not particularly useful for my day-to-day activities, although it might be for more of my coworkers who need to travel around more than I do.

But that battery life... that's where I get really interested.

We have a premium HP Spectre x360 (late 2016 model). We don't need another laptop anytime soon. But if we did, I would consider something like this rather than going all-in on another ultrabook which is probably overkill for our needs 99% of the time.

I can see huge advantages for business users who travel, or for students going in and out of 8 hours of classes in a day. Why wouldn't you take this over an x86 if that's your situation? To me, the price difference for similar power is easily outweighed by LTE and the battery life and the super-quick on/off.

 

[ashram]

Love the idea of the actual product, but hate that data only plans ion the US are a rip off.

 

[GreyFox7]

While the reported (to date) performance of x86 is far from the promised near native, I'm interested in the Native Performance for a Windows Tablet. The available native apps and OS builtin apps will cover most if not all of my needs and having a thinner lighter Windows Tablet with great battery life is what I want. LTE is not make or break but nice to have assuming it's reasonably priced, otherwise it will go unused.

 

[AndyCalling]

These don't really attract me. I want WoA for more portable form factors than laptops, ones with small batteries and a reason to keep them always connected. That's tablets (smaller ones in particular as they benefit most) and more importantly something pocketable such as the Surface not-Phone which seems to be on the way. Not much point a device being always on if it's stuffed in a bag or a car boot when it isn't out and being used directly.

2018 could be the last year of the mobile phone, as we all start to transition over to not-Phones and the benefits they can provide. I don't think it will be the year of the always on laptop though.

 

[MPetrozio]

Now, if they could make it small enough to fit into your pocket...

 

[Hesham Sayed]

it's really good products for productivity,always connected and huge battery life, how ever windows 10 it self is ... kinda new platform not that rich with store apps ... they made a huge progress in apps no doubts ... how ever I'm really wprried about the gaming performance or the way any windows device behaves after a while ... not sure about the quality of performance if it will stay the same ... and this would make some windows enthusiast like me wait and see

 

[Richard Toft]

So Microsoft, HP and ASUS recently announced the first "always connected PCs," the ASUS NovaGo and HP Envy x2.

We've been anxiously awaiting the dawn of the Windows 10 on ARM age, and it's finally almost here. That's exciting ... but I can't help but wonder how many people will actually buy one of these first devices.

They're expensive, and I'm not all that sure the value proposition is there for me. I think many other folks are in the same boat.

What do you think? Are you excited about the first two always-connected PCs? Why or why not? Taking it a step further, are you going to buy one?

 

[Richard Toft]

I'm really interested to see the next devices I'm kind of tempted by the tablet version but if someone brings out an 7 to 8 inch tablet version with telephony, I'm buying one.

 

[fdruid]

So Microsoft, HP and ASUS recently announced the first "always connected PCs," the ASUS NovaGo and HP Envy x2.

We've been anxiously awaiting the dawn of the Windows 10 on ARM age, and it's finally almost here. That's exciting ... but I can't help but wonder how many people will actually buy one of these first devices.

They're expensive, and I'm not all that sure the value proposition is there for me. I think many other folks are in the same boat.

What do you think? Are you excited about the first two always-connected PCs? Why or why not? Taking it a step further, are you going to buy one?

I think the Asus one is pretty good and I'd buy one if I didn't have a Surface Pro 4, since it would probably fit my use scenarios pretty well. Plus I like the quality of its components and features. It's almost like a Surface.

I'd rather have them than to be a cheap tablet, but they will come and there will be perfectly useable ugly and cheap tablets soon too. And things that aren't tablets, that's the most interesting aspect of this.

I think that there will be phones like this, but not from MS. I mean straight phones with Windows 10 on ARM plus telephony in a standard slab format with Cshell that looks like W10M. MS will do their thing, but someone else will make them once Cshell is out, with Windows Core and telephony support.

 

[Joe Blo2]

Good idea for many people..I myself prefer a laptop that can game at 1080p decently.

 

[Wevenhuis]

So far I think its a mixed bag, and a luke warm news. I'm not as excited as the first surface pro or the Lumia 1020. But the battery life is an important feature compared to anything else.

It all reminds me of a small renaissance of the laptop. But with the goal being mobility, I don't think the laptop is the right poster child to start with. I would have liked to see microsoft innovate more with continuum on a smartphone. That would opened the door to far more possibilities. A laptop means I will still carry two devices, as a smartphone will also be necessary toda. With windows 10 via continuum on a windows phone would vastly improve the mobility prospect of portability and an ultimate Swiss pocket knife of two devices in one a smartphone and pc in a portable form factor.

I'm also worried about the still evolving, not quite established app ecosystem, where I see microsoft still struggling with different app formats. And users have to choose from windows 10 OS too. It's currently all messy. There's a solution with project centennial, but performance is less than stellar in my experience having legacy virtualized in a UWP jacket.

Microsoft has just left windows 10 mobile and a still evolving wi dows 10 and this is all recent history. I still see windows on ARM changing. It might take well over 10 years before we see some stability. Windows 10 on ARM feels a bit like the early days of windows phone 7. Its going to be messy. I would like microsoft to see a bit more stable. I understand innovation. But I think microsoft has enough if that. But I think they don't stand still enough on the fit and finish. The experience remains meh at the moment on the software front.

 

[Cruncher04]

I am very excited about the prospect of always on and always connected in conjunction with high standby and run times. I would mostly use these devices with native ARM apps or .Net/CLI apps - so i would rarely use emulation. Prices are just right for full featured Windows 10 including Windows Ink, Hello and LTE.

 

[kim geun young]

So Microsoft, HP and ASUS recently announced the first "always connected PCs," the ASUS NovaGo and HP Envy x2.

We've been anxiously awaiting the dawn of the Windows 10 on ARM age, and it's finally almost here. That's exciting ... but I can't help but wonder how many people will actually buy one of these first devices.

They're expensive, and I'm not all that sure the value proposition is there for me. I think many other folks are in the same boat.

What do you think? Are you excited about the first two always-connected PCs? Why or why not? Taking it a step further, are you going to buy one?

No much difference between ordinary laptop has great battery actually has worse performance but the price is same as them? Why would anyone get it just go get LG gram

 

[iamnixster]

I liked these devices a lot. I will be watching this space to see what's coming as I know things will only get better going forward. Personally I like to see these as a new version of tablets (not smartphones). I hope they become affordable one day!

 

[lippidp]

I just demoed the HP device yesterday. I can say it is very sleek and attractive. Screen, keyboard, and kickstand were all awesome. B&O speaker grille. It was heavier than I was expecting, but I can say I would have handed over my months old Probook in a heartbeat for this instead. Assuming there are good dock options, that is. But WOW what a beautiful device!

 

[hlov]

If they should have an smaller version, 8 or 9 inches with pen I'm sold.

The form factor of my Pro 608 G1 is great but the hardware is crap so would like to have something better